Counting the Years
by Dark Alice Lilith Strife
Summary: Every year, Sylar makes sure that he visits Peter.  Sylar/Peter, Jack/Ianto, Jack/Sylar


Title: Counting the Years  
>PairingCharacters: Sylar/Peter, Jack/Ianto, Jack/Sylar, Claire  
>Rating: PG-13<br>Warnings: character death, angst, unbeta'd  
>Summary: HeroesTorchwood crossover. Written for the **500themes** prompt: 83. Counting years. Every year, Sylar makes sure that he visits Peter.

-Year One-

Sylar stood at Peter's grave, staring down at the tombstone of his dead lover. Peter had died the previous year of old age, with Sylar by his bedside. They had terminated their relationship when Peter was sixty, but their feelings for one another didn't cease.

Sylar just couldn't watch as Peter grew old and died, and Peter couldn't stand watching Sylar not age. It was difficult and many tears were shed, but they stayed friends. Sylar had shed even more tears the night Peter died. Peter had been eighty-three.

Sylar knelt down and traced Peter's name on the tombstone. A shadow fell over the ground next to him and he looked up to see Claire with a bouquet of flowers in her hands. She knelt down beside him and placed them on Peter's grave.

Sylar bowed his head. "The pain, does it ever go away?"

It had been five years since Claire had lost Gretchen. "I think that after awhile it begins to lessen, but no, I don't think that it ever goes away."

-Year Ten-

Sylar roamed around New York making his way to the graveyard to see Peter. Unlike Claire who managed to finds friends just about everywhere, Sylar ended up alone. Not even Claire could lessen the loneliness he felt.

He sat down in front of his lover's grave and touched the cold stone. "Hey Pete."

He ended up just telling stories of the places he been to, having decided to travel around the world the previous year. So far he'd seen all of Asia and had come back to America to be here today. "I think you would have liked Tokyo. I settled there for a few months, but I moved on to come see you again." He leaned forward and kissed the tombstone. "I miss you."

-Year Fifty-

Sylar was in Cardriff, wandering the streets. He planned to leave the next day to visit Peter's grave. Finding himself a coffee shop, he went inside and ordered. He sat down and looked around at the customers. One of them stuck out to him. He looked as though he didn't belong in this time.

The man looked up as though he knew Sylar was watching him. He looked sad and Sylar wondered if he too had lost someone. Sylar finished his coffee and left. He ended up at a pier and just stared out at the water, remembering how Peter loved to go walk on the beach at night and even one time when they had gone skinny-dipping. He remembered how the moonlight shone on Peter's body and the light touches and kisses they had shared underneath it.

A tear slide down his face and he reached up to wipe it away. Claire said that a lot of her memories were getting fuzzy and Sylar prayed that he would never forget Peter.

"You look upset."

Sylar whipped around to see the man from the coffee shop. He took a moment before answering. "I am."

"So am I," the man replied before nodding at the spot next to Sylar. "Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead."

The man stepped next to him and they stood there in silence for a long moment before the man spoke up, holding his hand out. "Captain Jack Harkness."

Sylar took the man's. "Sylar."

"Just Sylar?"

"It's what I go by."

"Well Sylar, what brings you to Cardiff?"

"Traveling," Sylar replied, his voice cracked a bit as he expanded. "I'm doing it for someone I cared very much about."

"I can understand that," Jack replied, looking out at the water. "I mean the traveling part. Someone I loved died a long time ago and I had to leave. I found it hard to come back here."

"I stayed in New York for nine years before I decided to travel. I went to Asia first, but I always go back to America every year to see him," Sylar said. "I go there and tell him how my trip has been and the places that I've seen."

"I had already seen the world when I met Ianto," Jack said. "Otherwise I probably would ask to join you."

Sylar looked over to see a smile on Jack's face. Sylar smiled back. "You wouldn't want to travel with me anyways, I get all angsty and depressing."

"Is that what your boyfriend said?"

"No, his niece," Sylar replied. "She tried to travel with me once to keep me company."

"What happened?"

"She liked Ireland to much and decided to stay. Sometimes I'll see her at his grave."

"I have no one else," Jack said. "So at least you have someone."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well, I hate to bail but I have a date with Ianto. Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

"Yeah, maybe."

The next day, when Sylar visits Peter, he recounts the conversation with the Captain.

-Year One Hundred-

It amazed him that Peter's grave was still here, even as the world started to die. He sat down in front of it. "Hey Peter. It's me again and I got you something," Sylar pulled out a red rose and laid it down on Peter's grave. "This one's from Italy. I took residence there, and Claire's with me too. She's on her fifth husband and just had another baby. A little girl named Dawn, They said that they will be out soon to see you so that you can meet the little one."

He ran his hand over the tombstone which was now cracked and old. "I work in a watch shop, which no surprise there. I always work in a watch shop, except this one is also an antique store. The owner is teaching me how to restore them. You should see some of the things that come into the shop Peter. Some of it is from a little over a hundred years ago. You were still alive then." He traced the year of death. "I still had you, even if you were only my friend."

-Year One Hundred and Fifty-

Sylar couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the man from the coffee shop almost a hundred years earlier. He was standing out, looking at the ocean. "Captain? Captain Jack Harkness?"

The man turned around and there was surprise in his eyes as well. "Sylar?"

"I guess there were a lot more people with a healing ability than Claire and I thought."

"Healing ability?" Jack said before shaking his head. "No, actually I'm not a special. I'm a fixed point in time and space. It's a little different, but it gains the same result." Jack turned back towards the water. "You get lonelier with every passing year."

Sylar stepped up to stand nest to him. "You know, I was going to see Peter tomorrow, maybe you should come along. I think he would have liked you."

"Isn't his grave in America?"

"I can fly, it won't take very long."

Jack smiled. "Then I would love to."

The next day, Sylar knelt down in front of Peter's grave. "Hey Pete, I have someone that I would like you to meet." Sylar motioned for Jack to come closer. "This is Captain Jack Harkness, he's like me. He can't die either."

-Year Three Hundred-

Peter's grave was gone, along with most of the world due to a nasty world war, but that didn't stop Sylar from going to what was left of New York. Having visited the site for so many years, Sylar knew exactly where it was, even without a tombstone.

He laid out a blanket and laid down next to the gravesite. "It's been so long since I've got to sleep next to you." He reached out and placed a hand on the grass. "So I decided to stay here for the night. There's not much to tell you. Claire's somewhere in Europe with her current family. I haven't seen her since last year. I've been in Cardiff, Jack and I found a small cabin together. It overlooks the ocean. Remember when we would go to the beach at night? I think that I miss those nights the most. It was on one of those nights that you first told me that you loved me. I still love you Peter and I wish that you were here with me now or that I was with you."

-Year Five Hundred and Five-

Sylar walked over to Peter's gravesite and stood above it. "Hey Pete. How are you today?" He knelt down and touched the grass. There was a small grave marker he had made for the site a fifty years ago. A small plaque with Peter's name on it, he placed a red rose just under it. "I have something that I need to tell you and I hope that you don't get mad at me. At least, I don't think you would." He took a deep breathe. "You were the last person I ever dated and after you died, I just couldn't bear the thought of being with anyone else. It's been well over five hundred years and I think that I finally moved on. Jack and I decided to start a relationship, but don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you. I don't think that I ever could and I'll still come to visit, I promise you that. I will still come to see you. I love you Peter, and I always will. You were the world to me Peter, and you are always on my mind. I'll never forget you." Sylar gave a sniffle, tears welling up in his eyes. "No body can ever replace you."

Sylar smiled down at the grave, the pain in his heart was still there, but had lessened greatly over the years. "I'll see you next year, Peter. I love you and I miss you so much."

Sylar stood up and turned towards Jack who was leaning against a tree. Sylar walked over to him and Jack took his hand. "Ready to go home?"

Sylar looked back at Peter's grave before nodding. "Yeah, let's go."

Jack hooked his arms around Sylar and they took off, towards Ireland where they had built their new home, where they lived with Claire and her daughter, Petra. The only one of her children who gained the healing ability.

-Year One Thousand-

Sylar had kept his word and visited Peter every year. Though, this year he came with a different purpose. He, Claire and Jack had all lived so long that they believed it was their time. Claire said that the only way for her and him to die was decapitation, but Sylar went a different route. He sent Claire and Jack into their heads. Claire went back so she was with HRG and everyone else again. He sent Jack to be back with Ianto and as for him, he was going to be with Peter again.

He touched the grass and smiled. "I'm coming to join you Pete. I'll be with you soon."

He used Parkman's ability on himself. His body slumped over on the grass and when he opened his eyes, New York was how it used to be and there was Peter standing before him, looking just as young as he was when they had first met.

Sylar pulled Peter into a hug and kissed him. Now, he had eternity to spend with Peter.


End file.
